


Velleity

by capsize (copenhagenborn)



Category: Hockey RPF, Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dylan has three wishes and doesn't know what to do with them, Dylan strome and his affair with the NHL, Gen, Magical Realism, Sadness, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 20:18:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15154859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copenhagenborn/pseuds/capsize
Summary: Dylan Strome was born with three wishes.He doesn’t know how he knows, but Dylan can feel them inside him, stirring and impatient and waiting to be used.With his first wish, Dylan wishes to be the best hockey player in the entire world, dead or alive. Dylan wants to be better than Sundin and Lemieux and Wayne fucking Gretzky. He wants to be picked first in the drafts and offered to be captain of team Canada; wants to pat Crosby’s back and say, “You’ll get there someday, bud,” while he receives tournament MVP.





	1. the story.

Dylan Strome was born with three wishes.

He doesn’t know _how_ he knows, but Dylan can feel them inside him, stirring and impatient and waiting to be used. 

Magic is not uncommon in the modern world, people just, prefer to call it something different – _luck_ , always, ‘a gift from the Gods’ sometimes; a wish? never.

Dylan uses his first wish when he’s very young.

He doesn’t tell anybody, not because it would be cheating, in fact Dylan doesn’t really know the rules when it comes to wishes and their extent, which is where Dylan’s problems start.

Because Dylan wishes to be the best hockey player in the entire world, dead or alive. Dylan wants to be better than Sundin and Lemieux and Wayne fucking _Gretzky._ He wants to be picked first in the drafts and offered to be captain of team Canada; wants to pat Crosby’s back and say, “You’ll get there someday, bud,” while he receives tournament MVP.

It doesn’t seem all that extreme, Dylan thinks back bitterly. Hockey is a fairly contained sports, popular in Canada and tolerated in the states and some of Europe. It shouldn’t be a big deal to be the best fucking hockey player in the world.

But it is, as Dylan learns, skirting the possibilities of his wishes.

There’s no fairy god mother appearing and granting him his wish, no confirmation email telling him he has two weeks to refund his order if he wants his money returned, and especially not the limitations of his fucking wish.

Dylan goes second overall in the OHL draft in 2013 and plays for the Erie Otters alongside generational talent Connor McDavid.

Dylan loses a lot of sleep over Connor. Because Dylan wasn’t granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada and allowed into the OHL at fifteen, nor does he win his first gold medal at sixteen during a U18 tournament while setting new Canadian point and goal records.

Dylan tries to reason that Connor had a lot more exposure growing up which led to bigger opportunities and thus Connor’s immaculate reputation of being the second coming of Hockey Jesus.

In 2015, Dylan wins the 2015 OHL scoring title beating out both Marner and Connor while setting a new Otter record for single season points. So maybe Dylan didn’t waste a wish on shitty semantics.

And then the 2015 NHL entry draft happens, and Dylan is passed over _twice_ before the Coyotes picks him, Connor watching in the wings with nothing but pride in his eyes making Dylan feel just the tiniest bit of sick to his stomach. Because Dylan loves Connor, he’s his best friend and they’ve been through a lot of shit together, but. First over all should have been his; _Dylan_ was supposed to be the talent to save hockey from dying a drawn-out and boring death.

 

Dylan discovers over the summer what his wish had meant, playing street hockey with the McLeod’s and Bastian who’s started staying over at Mikey’s room.

Because ‘The best hockey player in the world’ somehow translates to ‘The best hockey-playing Strome’ when nature tries to balance out wishes to stay within its limitations.

And. Dylan loves his brothers, okay? They’re great, and he only wants to kill them sometimes, which is more than he can say about Mitch and his big fucking mouth. But even before his wish, Dylan was the best hockey-playing Strome, kicking both of their asses playing shinny with a three-year disadvantage on Ryan.

So, Dylan spends most of the summer fuming at himself and the world for having a spent a wish on something he already had. And then Arizona calls and tells him to stay in the OHL.

It’s not that Dylan expected to spend his entire season in the NHL, but he would at least have liked to stay up at the beginning of the season, maybe even get in a game against Connor before being sent down to further his development.

Dylan’s not a bad hockey player, he’s not the best – a fact that he still struggles with to accept – but he’s fucking not ‘four seasons in the OHL’ bad. And with no cups or trophies to show for his years spent in juniors, Dylan feels like a complete fuck.

But.

Like, Dylan knows there might be a reason that he’s sort of completely complicit in.

 

It’s the 2014-2015 season and the Otters are having a banner fucking season. They’re on fast track to being in 1st place in the Midwest, and even then, playoffs are just within reach.

They’re just coming off a win, him, Connor and Brinksy pressed together on the too small seats in the back of the bus, and Dylan’s never felt happier. It’s doesn’t make it worse that it’s the Knights they beat; Mitch – and his passive-aggressive comments that not quite make up for his lack of size and puck protection – for once staying quite after a game instead of running his mouth in front of the visitor’s locker room.

And Dylan almost doesn’t think when he makes the wish, just squeezes Connor tighter against his chest and wishes he could stay here forever.

It turns out that forever in the OHL roughly amounts to four years, give and take a few games.

But Dylan didn’t just want forever. Dylan wanted a forever with Connor where they could compete with the rest of the teams, where they could dominate and win like Dylan was supposed to do. Dylan didn’t want to spend the maximal years in juniors just because his team didn’t think he was good enough to play on a real team just to be sent down to the affiliate team when they had no where else to put him.

So Dylan spent another shitty wish on technicalities that only hurt him in the end.

 

Dylan spends his third and final wish during the summer of 2018.

It’s a shitty thing to do, but Dylan _wants_ so much. And if one little wish can finally give him everything he wants, then is he really to blame?

John Tavares signs a seven-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in July, and maybe it’s just the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back; the one thing that Dylan just cannot let Mitch have, because why should Mitch have everything when Dylan is cut from the same exact cloth? A high scoring, good Canadian boy with a dream to play for the Leafs whose biggest wish is to finally bring the cup back home.

So, it’s really not that hard to lay down in his bed just before midnight, squeeze his eyes together and whisper, “I wish I had been drafted to the Leafs instead of Mitch.” It’s quick and painless, and Dylan falls asleep almost right after, unknowing whether it’s because of the magic or the exhaustion from working himself up over Mitch’s luck.

 

Dylan comes into a very different locker room than what he expected to see.

For one, there’s no light-hearted conversation or chirps being thrown across the room like Mitch usually describes it. There’s also a lack of distinctive players, UFAs like Bozak, JVR and Komarov, and more shockingly, William Nylander is nowhere to be seen; the stall beside Auston’s given to one of the call-ups that Dylan distinctively doesn’t remember.

There is also no John Tavares, something that boggles Dylan’s mind quite a bit.

He moves to the corner where Auston is trying to hide, head covered by his hoodie and tucked down to look at his phone. Dylan almost feels bad for interrupting him, but he also didn’t spend his last wish to suck another year.

He sits down in the stall next to him and bumps their shoulders together in an attempt to get his attention. It works, sort of. Auston looks up, eyes dark and tired as he watches Dylan with an unimpressed look while biting the edge of his zipper.

“What.” He says flatly, the word sounding sour in his mouth.

“Do you know what happened to the Tavares deal? It seemed like we had a pretty good pitch for him, I can’t see why he didn’t sign here.” Like he did back when Mitch was a Leaf.

“I know you haven’t been in the NHL that long, Strome. But the Leafs fucking suck,” Auston bites, looking at him with dead eyes mirrored by his own. But instead of blatant apathy as in Dylan’s own, Auston’s are filled with something a bit more nefarious, bordering just on the wrong side of hostile. “You might’ve won a cup with the Marlies, but the Leafs haven’t been in a playoff spot since 2013, so how about you shut up before I show you how?”

It’s more aggressive than Dylan’s question required, but he stays quiet and instead watches Auston tuck his phone away. He pushes away from the stall, pausing as he straightens up to hiss and push his shoulder back in position, and Dylan knows that look. Dylan knows that sound of pain, knows the injury from when Connor fucked up his shoulder and tried to play through it.

“Hey, are you okay man? Want me to get you a trainer?” Dylan asks softly, moving to his feet to help Auston sit back down. But Auston flinches and stumbles away from Dylan, a look of annoyance in his eyes.

“I’m fine Stromer. Just don’t be a fucking snitch, and we won’t have a problem.” Auston says before storming away to Andersen’s stall, pads halfway on but pausing anyway when Auston starts to talk a mile a minute.

Dylan doesn’t try to dig for more information, but it’s very clear that it is a different locker room than the one Mitch had left in the start of July.

 

Tavares signed an 8-year extension with the Isles for more money than he got in Toronto before July 1st, and William Nylander had during their failed post season very publicly stated that he wasn’t interested in re-signing with the Leafs and if no other teams were going to offer him a contract, he still had connections back in Sweden he could make use of.

Finding a new team didn’t turn out to be all that hard though, and the Leafs got a generous pick in return – “A band aid on a ruptured aorta,” Dylan heard Auston describe it to Hyman, court and annoyed like it’s Willy’s fault the team is failing.

It’s more surprising when Dylan catches him and Andersen discuss what the possibility of the two of them being traded to the same team is, or if Auston might be able to sign with Andersen’s new team when his ECL runs out.

“You’re not, uhm. You’re not gonna re-sign with the Leafs, Aus?” Dylan asks with a frown, clumsily sitting down in the empty chair next to them, “But like, they drafted you and, I mean with a bit of help and a few good draft picks definitely, they’re gonna be a solid team. Playoff contenders, eh?”

There’s a beat of silence in which Dylan almost gets up and leaves. Andersen blinks and pushes himself back in the chair, looking even bigger and more imposing than he does on the ice in full pads.

“Who are you again?” he asks slowly. There’s no malice in his voice, but Dylan doesn’t know enough about him to know whether it’s a part of the joke or not.

“Strome, there’s three of us in the NHL. So like, I’m Dylan, the best one obviously.” Dylan’s never been the nervous type, clumsy and stumbling because of his long limbs, yes; but he’s never been the one to just blurt out whatever’s on the tip of his tongue just because he didn’t feel comfortable in the situation. But apparently, now he is. “I won the Calder cup with the Marlies last season, if that helps?”

Which is apparently the wrong fucking thing to say because Auston scoffs and Andersen’s chest puffs even more out, until he’s nothing but a big lump of extended muscle too big for the plastic chairs they’re all sitting in. And _Dylan_ didn’t even win the damn cup, some fucked up, alternate version of him did when his wish was granted, so it’s just all around a shitty thing to say.  

“Maybe not talk about championships with a team that hasn’t been near one for longer than a decade, huh? Come back when you know something about losing, eh?” It’s mocking and hurtful, and Dylan wants to scream for him to shut up because Dylan knows everything about losing, and what does Auston fucking Matthews even know about it? Was the money he made in Switzerland not enough? Did the year his draft was pushed back really make that big of a chip on his shoulder that he cannot see past his own fucking nose?

It’s not quite what Dylan actually says, but it’s close, “I’ve been a Leafs fan my entire live, so I think I know a thing or two about us not winning anything. Ask Mitch if you don’t believe me!”

Auston pauses in his ascend from his chair, turning around and meeting Dylan’s eyes with his own sharp ones, “Mitch?”

Dylan frowns and stutters for a bit before saying, “Um, winger for the ‘Yotes? I think he’s having a pretty good season down there.” Dylan really wouldn’t know, he didn’t think to google any of this before coming in. But Mitch is a solid player, and even if he had to spend a few years in the A or juniors, he’s probably doing well now.

“Oh, Marner! Yeah, McDavid introduces us after the World cup I think, great guy.” Auston says with a soft smile, a light flush taking over his cheeks when Andersen nudges his side. “Why didn’t you just say the Calder winner? Like, everyone knows who that is,” Auston then says, his voice back to being hard but they don’t stick around long enough for Dylan to defend himself, leaving him defeated in a chair, because of course Mitch also wins at life in this universe too.

 Dylan Strome was born with three wishes and not once got what he really wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!  
> The next chapter is just extras, breifly explaining why Dylan's third wish also didn't work out.


	2. extra!

So, this was only supposed to be some wonderings about Dylan Strome and his affair with the NHL.

Just in brief, Dylan wishes to be the best hockey player ever, but because that is ‘beyond the scope’ the wish rebound and instead only affects the Strome family – which as Dylan views it is a waste of a wish.

Then he wishes to stay on the Otters forever, which he gets, just, not with his best bud and at the cost of playing in the NHL.

Now the Mitch wish is a bit more complicated. This is where the butterfly effect comes in, I guess?

Dylan wishes that he had been drafted to the Leafs instead of Mitch, but this doesn’t cancel out his previous wish, so he still spends four years playing junior hockey. For comparison, Mitch spent three years with the Knights before joining the Leafs for the 2016-2017 season.

This means that instead of the three-headed monster, the Leafs “”only”” had Willy and Auston putting up points. This has a direct effect on the Leafs’ playoff spot since Mitch was top five in team scoring and had 5 game-winning-goals making the Leafs end the season with 95 points just enough to clinch a playoff spot, while Tampa with 94 did not.

Also with Dylan still stuck in the A and no one else to step up, Auston felt forced to play the 2018 season with an injured shoulder just to give the team a fighting chance resulting in a possible long-term injury.

Willy didn’t want to be stuck on a sinking team and straight out told Dubas that he wasn’t going to re-sign with the Leafs. Similarly, Tavares didn’t see a point signing with the Leafs because who was he supposed to play with? Marleau who’s probably retiring soonish, or a call-up whose name is not known outside Leafs Nation?

So Dylan was once again fucked over by his own wish.

Bad fucking luck, mate.

Also the locker room is tense as a result of all the losing, getting _the_ Auston Matthews and still end up losing, and Auston Matthews not used to being bad so he turns a bit resentful and takes it out on the rest of the team – just a plain old vicious circle.

Bonus! If Dylan had a fourth wish, beside rewinding things back to being a coyote once again, he would wish to be in the NHL for the rest of his career. The result? An injury stopping him from playing hockey, but not becoming an NHL ref.


End file.
